"Les Troyens," will making the rounds at the Metropolitan Opera House starting Dec. 13 and will continue on until Jan. 5. The five-hour Hector Berlioz play will be redone by Francesca Zambello.
Zambello has enlisted the help of Genovesi conductor Fabio Luisi to carry out musical proceedings. The onstage crew comprises of soprano Deborah Voigt and she will play the role of Cassandra, while mezzo soprano Susan Graham will play the role of Dido.
Karen Cargill will be Anna, with the part of Aeneas, going to Italian tenor Marcello Giordani. Iopas, will be played by Eric Cutler. Dwayne Croft will portray Chorebe and Korean bass Kwangchul Youn will play the role of Narbal.
Set design will be handled by Maria Bjornson. Anita Yavich is the play's costume designer and the job of lighting designer falls to James F. Ingalls.
Hector Berlioz "Les Troyens," tells the tale of Troy in her last days. The Greeks infiltrated the Trojan city with a giant wooden horse that hid Greek soldiers who lay in wait to destroy the city.
After the Greeks destroyed Troy the surviving Trojan Aeneas guides a few of his people to Carthage where they stay with the Carthaginians even helping them defeat some of their enemies. Aeneas, was told by Trojan ghost to lead his people to Rome but Aeneas, falls in love with the queen of Carthage Dido.
Torn between his new love Dido and the need to carry out the wishes of the Trojan departed, Aeneas, with great sorrow leaves for Rome breaking Dido's heart. She ultimately kills her self and in her death, she curses Rome and predicts that a future Carthaginian general Hannibal will destroy the kingdom.
